


Match point

by halfeatenmoon



Category: Shoujo Kakumei Utena | Revolutionary Girl Utena
Genre: F/F, Fencing, Post-Canon, fencing is just very suggestive, the innuendo was not on purpose
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-09
Updated: 2019-11-09
Packaged: 2021-01-25 20:23:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21362152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/halfeatenmoon/pseuds/halfeatenmoon
Summary: After Shiori and Juri face off against each other at a local fencing meet, Juri challenges Shiori to a duel. Arealduel.
Relationships: Arisugawa Juri/Takatsuki Shiori
Comments: 1
Kudos: 27
Collections: Femslash Exchange 2019





	Match point

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rubyroth](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rubyroth/gifts).

All Shiori can hear under her fencing mask is her own breathing. At the start of the match she'd heard everything, her anxiety amplifying her opponent's every move, the buzz of each point scored sounding like thunder. A minute in, though, and her breathing had taken over, the only thing filling her ears. She'd even lost track of the score. All she knew was that for the first time today, she had a chance of winning.

The fencing matches at the open tournaments only went for three minutes, but Shiori was finding that time didn't mean anything when she was in the middle of it. She couldn't keep track of anything, except a vague sense of whether she was doing well or not. Something about this match felt different, though. She was light on her feet. Her blade felt like an extension of her hand, like her coach was always talking about. She was giving up hits, but she was pushing, too, and every time she advanced she felt powerful in a way that she rarely had before.

But still, her breath was heavy in her own ears. It wasn't good to drown out everything else. It felt like she was on the verge of overreaching, of getting too caught up in her own excitement and giving the match away. She tried to focus through the mesh of the mask, just absorb her opponent's movements and let her body follow. The other fencer advanced, forcing Shiori backwards, and she felt a split second of panic when she saw her prepare to lunge. But she threw her strength behind her sword and to her own surprise, she parried the blow and felt the point of her blade make contact with her opponent's shoulder. The buzzer sounded for the end of the match, and she looked with disbelief at the scoreboard reading 3-5 in her favour.

"I won?" her voice was muffled by her helmet. She hastily took it off when she saw that her opponent was already unmasked, and holding out a hand for her to shake.

"Good match," said the girl. She had short black hair and a charming smile, though Shiori had been too nervous to notice before they started.

"Thank you," Shiori replied, dazed. And then, "Oh! You too!"

The other girl just laughed and waved her goodbye. Shiori watched her go for a moment, still stunned, until another fencer loudly cleared her throat and Shiori remembered she had to get off the piste for the next match. She hadn't even made it to the lockers when Minako ran up and hugged her so hard she nearly knocked her over.

"Careful! Sword!" Shiori carefully pointed the tip down at the floor.

"You won!" Minako yelled, then finally let go and clapped her on the back. "You won a match!"

"I know," Shiori said, softly. And then, like she couldn't believe it, "_I won._"

Minako beamed. "I told you you could do it!"

"I mean, you've still won more than me." Shiori had lost her first two matches and won this one; Minako had won both of hers so far.

"Like that matters. I've done this before, and you were terrified, and that means you were braver than me. Which means your win is twice as strong!"

"I don't think the rankings count it that way," Shiori replied, but she felt the warm glow of success all the same.

This was Shiori's first fencing meet. The regional open was not a big competitive event; there was no bracket, no finals, no winners. It was just a friendly event that anyone could enter to get some experience and test out their skills. Even without anything on the line, though, Shiori had been terrified. It was only with repeated prodding from Minako that she'd signed up at all.

"What's the worst thing that could happen?" Minako had prodded her, when Shiori kept refusing.

"I could lose."

"Yes. Everyone loses sometimes. They also win some. You can't win until you try."

Fortunately, after convincing her to sign up, Minako had been willing to hold Shiori's hand through the whole thing. Shiori had been so nervous that morning that she couldn't even walk into the sports centre on her own, let alone look at the matchups. Minako was the one who looked up the schedule and shoved Shiori towards the right piste whenever one of her matches was coming up. Losing her first two matches hadn't made losing any less scary, either. Every time Shiori put on her equipment and faced off an opponent, she still thought she was going to throw up.

She hadn't yet, though. That was another victory for today.

Minako was the kind of girl that Shiori probably would have hated if they were in high school together. She was pretty, and funny, and boys liked her, and most of all she was confident. The fact that she was so kind to Shiori didn't help at all, either. When Shiori first joined the fencing club, Minako had gone out of her way to welcome her and encourage her in a way that would have made her feel like Minako was just pitying her - if not for the fact that Minako had as much to learn about fencing as Shiori did, and she knew it.

Which was well and truly on display when Shiori sat down to watch Minako's next match later that afternoon. Despite what she knew about the open, Shiori had started to feel that surely Minako was a much better fencer than her after all, with her 2-0 winning record to Shiori's 1-2. But this match was brutal. It was over in under 90 seconds, the other girl slipping easily through all of Minako's moves to land blow after blow. When the buzzer sounded, the scoreboard red 5-0.

"It's okay," Shiori said, afterwards.

"It is." Minak didn't sound like it was okay, though. She sounded exhausted. Even her optimism had cracks in it sometimes. it turns out.

"Everyone loses. Isn't that what you told me?"

At that, Minako let out a laugh and hugged her. "Yes I did."

She was about to say something else when she looked at the clock and swore. "Shiori, you're going to be late for your next match! Come on!"

The good thing about a rush is that it didn't give Shiori time to get nervous. She even got a kind of relief out of thinking maybe she would miss the call, maybe she would miss the whole match and have to forfeit. But Minako was forcing her helmet on her head while she was pulling her gloves on, and shoved her onto the piste just in time for the first buzzer.

She got a split second's impression of her opponent - tall, still, perfect posture - before the buzzer sounded. The other woman instantly advanced, twice, forcing Shiori backwards. It was all she could do not to stumble, and she wasn't surprised to hear the buzzer mark a point against her, almost instantly.

She could hear her coach in her head saying _That was an easy opening! You have to be ready to guard your shoulder no matter what._ But Shiori couldn't focus on her movements. She was struggling hard enough to get in the game as it was, but in the seconds it took them to reset, the familiarity of the other fencer caught up with her.

_It couldn't be,_ she thought, as she was forced backwards again.

_Lots of well-trained fencers move like that,_ as she made an unsuccessful parry and the other fencer's sword landed a hit on her side.

_Juri's too good for a local open!_ she thought, desperately, as they reset for a third encounter. But this time she at least managed a successful parry, even if she didn't get on the front foot, and she dodged to the side as she deflected the attack. As the other fencer stepped past her, Shiori saw a few curls of orange ringlets spilling from the back of her helmet. Shorter than when they were at school, but unmistakable.

This time she didn't even realise she'd been hit until she heard the buzzer.

"Don't get distracted," came Juri's familiar voice from under the mask.

Shiori clenched her teeth as she reset. There was no shame in losing to Juri, she knew that. She'd lost to Juri before when they were at school, again and again. But she wasn't going to be spoken to like that.

She'd meant to strike first on their next turn, but Juri's step was faster, and while their swords clashed, it was Shiori who had to retreat. She saw an opening this time, and lunged to strike, only to find that she'd leapt straight on to the point of Juri's blade.

"Match point! 4-0 to Arisugawa."

"Just think before you strike. You walked into that one."

"Don't condescend to me," Shiori snapped back. She couldn't see Juri's face behind the mask, but she noticed the way she paused, and then nodded. Something, then, had gotten through.

There was no more time to talk, though, not before they were called to reset for what would surely be the last time. This time, though, Shiori was ready, her weight on her back leg, coiled to strike. When the buzzer sounded, she surged forward, her sword clashing against Juri's and advancing hard enough to finally force Juri back. Juri parried her strike but Shiori pressed on, advancing again. When she saw Juri gathering herself to move forward, she lunged. She felt the point of Juri's sword thud into her shoulder at exactly the same time that she felt her own blade find its mark, bending under the force of her strike as it stuck in Juri's side.

"Match to Arisugawa, 5-1!" said the announcer.

When Shiori took her helmet off, it felt like breathing again. When she saw Juri take hers off, it felt like her breath stopped for a minute. So many years of bad blood had led them to this point, so much resentment of Juri's success, attempts at revenge, misguided pining and finally wrenching themselves away from each other to pursue something better. And now it brought them to here. A loss. But she'd scored a point. Against _Juri._

Juri held out hand to shake, with a small smile. Shiori's first instinct was that Juri must be smirking at her, at the foolishness of Shiori even stepping onto the piste to fight Juri. As if she could ever compare. But she took a deep breath and put the thought aside, and when they shook hands, Shiori finally felt like she was meeting an equal.

"Good match," Juri said.

"You too," Shiori said, and resisted the urge to duck her head.

That was all she managed to say before Minako was on her, shouting congratulations and smothering her in a hug. When Shiori looked back, Juri was already gone.

There as a tournament after party at a bar nearby. Shiori had been in two minds about whether to go, before, but when Minako asked she found that now the answer was yes. Except that she wound up stuffed in a corner with a glass of champagne she was too nervous to drink, just staring at the door hoping Juri would appear.

"You should drink up, we're celebrating!" Minako said, clinking their glasses together.

"I only won one match, and you went 2-2."

"It's not about celebrating wins. We're celebrating our first tournament. The point is that we worked hard and did our best, and now we deserve a reward." Minako paused to get her phone out, and despite her nerves, Shiori managed a smile for their celebratory selfie. "Also, you scored a point on Arisugawa, that's basically the same as a win."

"Right!" Shiori said, glancing towards the door again. "You have no idea how true that is."

"There are plenty of cute guys here, though. If celebrating isn't enough of a reason for you, we could try to find you a boyfriend."

"Noooo!"

"What's so terrible about that?"

"I've spent enough of today feeling nervous without trying to talk to new boys, too."

"And yet, you still seem to be nervous anyway. You waiting for someone?"

Shoiri wrenched her gaze away from the door again. "Uh, no."

"I haven't known you that long, but you're really bad at lying. What's the deal?"

Shiori toyed with her glass, which was dripping condensation. She'd still barely sipped it. "So... Arisugawa and I know each other."

"What? Really? That's so cool!"

"Right, cool." Shiori swallowed. "Exactly. But we haven't spoken in a long time, and I was wondering if she was going to come, and... hey, what are you smirking about?"

"Sorry," Minako said, with a smile, and pointed over Shiori's shoulder. "It's just that Arisugawa's been out on the balcony ever since we got here. Didn't you see?"

Shiori blinked, glanced out the window, and blinked at Minako again. "Sorry, uh, I have to go, I have to..."

"Don't apologise, jeez. Get her autograph for me and I'll see you at training on Tuesday."

Juri was alone on the balcony, leaning against the railing and gazing out into the night. It had to be a pose, Shiori thought, dryly, there was no way that she was the only person at this entire part who wanted to talk to her. That was the mark of maturity, she supposed, that she could roll her eyes at the way Juri could be so studiously dramatic.

She thought through and discarded several ways to introduce herself before she finally gave up and just leaned on the railing next to Juri and said, "I didn't expect to see you here."

She didn't look over, just stared out at the street, but she could feel Juri startle next to her.

"I didn't expect to see you, either," Juri said, after a moment.

"I mean, at an open tournament. You're Juri! You're nationally ranked!"

"I _was_ nationally ranked. I haven't fenced in years, not since I graduated. It didn't seem right to ask to go straight back into the rankings." She coughed. "And I didn't expect to see you at the tournament, either. I didn't realise you'd kept fencing."

"You didn't expect me to keep fencing."

Juri hesitated. "No, I didn't."

"Because you didn't think I could stick with it? Or because you thought I was only interested in fencing to get close to you?"

Juri rolled her eyes. "If someone saw the two of us fence at school, who would they have thought was most likely to drop out, me or you? And yet I'm the one who's out of practice, and you've clearly been training for, what, a year? Two?"

Shiori had to stop herself from pointing out that Juri still beat her. "You're saying, what?"

"That most people don't keep up their high school hobbies, that's all."

"Oh." She was lost for words for a moment, and Juri just left her hanging, staring out into the night. Shiori stared for a few moments, too, until she said, "I hated it at first."

"I wondered why you kept going, when other people often quit."

"At school, when I started... I started too late. I thought it was good to try, but I was never going to be any good. I still hated feeling like I was never going to be as good as you, even when I was getting better. So when we left school and I stopped seeing you, I stopped fencing."

"And?"

"And I missed it."

Juri smiled. "I wonder what you liked about it. By the time we finished school, I think all I liked about fencing was that I was good at it. I didn't like fencing itself any more."

"I can't imagine that." Shiori shook her head. "I love the power of it, and the way my body moves. The pushing, and being pushed, and the power of it."

"That does sound like you."

Shiori glared at her.

"I didn't mean it as an insult. I just mean that I can understand why that's the part of it that you like."

"It's not the only part. I think my favourite part is just before you lunge. When your body is like a spring, ready to go, and you can feel is tension, ready to unleash it..." Shiori was gesturing with her hands now, and stopped when she saw Juri grinning. "Sorry, is this too much?"

"I just don't think I've ever seen you so excited about something that you wave your hands around like that."

She fought the urge to bring her hands in, contained again, but she was more or less at the end of the grand gestures. She tried to convert it into leaning casually against the railing and felt like she probably looked stupid but she was going to stick with it. "Anyway. I can't imagine you stopping when fencing is so much fun and you were so good at it."

"It stopped being fun any more. Not after..." She seemed to be struggling with herself. "You know. When things changed."

The back of Shiori's neck was prickling. "When you and I grew apart? Because I've apologised..."

"No, never mind. Not that change. This was... you probably weren't aware of it." She sighed. "Just, over time, I couldn't remember why I was still fencing."

She wasn't aware of what Juri was talking about, but the words, the veiled allusions, they did something to her, in her heart and her gut. They brought up words that seemed like dreams, power and fear, whispers in the dark.

"So!" she said, hastily. "What's your life like now, Juri? Apart from fencing, obviously you're enjoying that again. What are you doing after school. Do you have a boyfriend?"

Juri threw her head back and laughed, and Shiori would have been insulted except for the pure fondness in her eyes.

"Oh, Shiori. After all this time, do you really still pretend to yourself that I might be interested in boys?"

It was as if Shiori had made a tentative, searching strike and been hit with a ringing riposte. "Well, boys were always interested in you."

"Plenty interested in you too, don't forget."

She felt like she were on the fencing piste again, being forced onto the back food by Juri's easy, laid back parrying. "Well, you were much more attractive than me."

"Is that so?" Juri smiled. "I didn't always see it that way."

Shiori felt hot, suddenly, and even more cornered. She wished she'd never brought up this topic, with its carefully locked up feelings, all the inadequacy she felt next to the radiant Juri, that she'd still been fighting all day. Because how could they ever possibly be equals, when this was the outcome of their match? And yet she felt a terrifying thrill, too, that maybe, despite the way she'd moved on, Juri could still be interested in her.

She realised she was just staring at Juri now, and hurriedly turned away. She'd walked into this corner herself and couldn't walk her way out of it.

"Well, I didn't mean it to be such a big thing," she said, hotly. "I just ask because I hope you find someone worthy of you. None of those boys at Ohtori deserved you."

Juri was quiet for a few minutes. She came back to lean against the railing with Shiori again, and they both stared out into the city at night. When Shiori chanced a sideways look at Juri, she saw that Juri was watching her, and quickly turned away.

"We never dueled each other, did we?" Juri said, at last.

"What do you mean? We fought today. We fought each other in high school."

"Not a fencing match. A duel."

The words send a shiver of recognition through Shiori's chest. She did know about the duels, at least a little. She tried to forget the part where Ruka brought her the arena to help him duel, only to discard her like garbage, blame it all on her. It crept into her dreams sometimes, though - the roses, the arena, the whispers in the dark. The fantasy of being the one to wield the sword herself, of being good enough. She had never admitted her part in the duels to a single soul, never even acknolwedged out loud that they existed. She was already turning the question over her mind, getting ready to fit it into the box where she kept those memories locked up. But Juri's gaze had caught her, and she didn't want to lie.

"No, we never duelled," she said, quietly. "I was just... I was just a bride, to Ruka, and he didn't even want me at that."

"And the time you challenged Tenjou," Juri said, still gazing into her eyes. "The time you drew my sword."

Shiori flushed even deeper with shame, and she couldn't hold Juri's gaze. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, that was wrong, I never should have..."

"Shhhh." Juri put a finger to Shiori's lips, and she stopped talking at the sheer shock of feeling Juri's skin on hers, the warmth and softness there. "You don't need to apologise. We all did things we're ashamed of."

Then she put a hand over the open mouth of Shiori's glass and said "Don't drink any more."

Juri had no business telling what Shiori what to do, and she seemed to realise it as soon as she saw Shiori's stunned expression.

"I'm sorry. That was rude of me. But I would like to duel you. Properly. Tonight. I don't have a flower to challenge you right now, but I can find some on the way back to the sports centre. You don't have to come, of course. But please, if you want to duel too, don't drink any more tonight. Just meet me at the sports centre in an hour."

Shiori stared into her eyes for a long moment, trying to sort through the resurfacing of half-repressed memories and the thought that Juri saw her as an opponent worthy of dueling. She kept replaying the words, don't drink any more, the intensity of Juri's gaze as she said it, the way she had to hide a shiver when Juri's hand closed over her drink. She wished Juri hadn't apologised. If Shiori didn't want Juri bossing her around, she could say so.

Her eyes didn't leave Juri's as she pulled her hand away, pulling the glass out of Juri's grasp, and raised it level with her chin. She saw the beginnings of a flicker of disappointment in Juri's eyes, and felt an old thrill and a new sense of shame. She didn't need to do that. But she knew where she was going, and there was no stopping now. In one swift movement, she threw her glass against the balcony, shattering it and leaving a puddle of champagne bubbling towards their feet.

"Let's go," she said. This time she was the one who took command, taking Juri by the wrist and leading her away.

The duel had felt very serious and dignified up to the point where the two of them were trying to steal some flowers and then break into a sports centre under the cover of darkness. Juri had insisted on searching for the right flowers until Shiori got fed up, so they were both walking up to the centre with daffodils in their breast pockets. And now neither of them had any idea how to pick a lock.

"You never had to break into anything when you were on the Student Council?"

"What kinds of things did you think the Student Council did?"

"I don't know! You definitely didn't do anything a normal student council did."

"Yes, but we weren't breaking and entering all the time." Juri looked around. "How about a window?"

Their entrance to the building was not elegant. The window was too high up for a comfortable fall, especially when they had to throw down their fencing bags first. But there were there at last, with some low lights on and their swords prepared. A whole court free for them to finally, really duel.

"Remember, different rules," Juri said, as she tucked one daffodil into Shiori's breast pocket. "We're not confined to the piste here. You can use the whole space. Body points don't count for anything; the first to lose their flower wins."

Shiori felt the ghost of Juri's touch even after she took her hand away. She tried not to let her inner turmoil show as she reached up and placed the second daffodil in Juri's pocket. She stepped back and breathed out.

"It's okay. I remember." She looked into Juri's eyes. "The more I look at you, the more I remember. No tips on our swords either, right?"

Juri laughed. "I almost forgot. It's been a long time."

They both reached down and took the rubber caps off their swords. No electric buzzers here, no safety caps. No safety equipment at all. Shiori had never fenced without some kind of safety on the point of her sword before. She took a moment to look at it; the blade of the epee so light that she could barely see the shining, sharp point.

"How do we know when to start?"

"You know, I'm not sure. We don't have anyone else here to mark the beginning." Juri looked about. "I guess it's like fencing. When we're both ready, we'll duel."

Shiori straightened her spine, her chin up. She was nervous, but not the nervousness that she felt for her fencing matches. This was something else entirely, like a crackling energy that filled her body, a restlessness that wouldn't relent until she was in motion.

"I'm ready. Are you?"

Juri smiled and raised her sword. "En garde."

It was a beginning much like their earlier match, with a strike from Juri that Shiori failed to completely deflect. She felt Juri's sword prick her shoulder, and took a moment to remember that this wasn't a point given up. No strike mattered in this duel except the one that severed a flower.

She skidded to the side and made a deep lunge, trying to strike at Juri's legs. It wouldn't win her the flower but she hoped it would throw her off balance. Juri was unflappable, though, turning with the force of the blow and attacking Shiori once again.

They fought their way up and down the sports court, their shoes squeaking on the surface as they advanced and fell back, lunged and parried. If it were a fencing match, Shiori would have lost three times over by now. Juri was peppering her body with blows; not drawing blood, not through her clothes, but hitting hard enough that she knew she'd have bruises tomorrow. She always managed to protect her flower, but Shiori could feel herself growing tired again. Three fencing matches in one day had already taken their toll, and a duel this fierce might be more than her body could bear.

This was a foregone conclusion, Shiori realised, at last. There had only ever been one way this could end. Why had she ever convinced herself it could be another way?

"Why did you want to duel me?" She asked, gasping, after she deflected one of Juri's blows and took a few quick steps backwards, hoping to catch her breath.

"Because I have to know!"

"You already know you can beat me. You always beat me."

"It's not about winning. Dueling like this... even without the rose gate, without the arena or the castle in the sky, this is a duel that reveals yourself."

A sick fear swept through Shiori's stomach. "I already know. I know my true self, and there's no good can come from it being revealed."

"I don't believe that's true."

Juri struck, Shiori parried, and Juri struck again before she could take any ground. She took a few stumbling steps to the side and spun as quickly as she could to face her opponent. Her breath was loud in her ears again, even without the mask, and she could feel her control slipping away.

"I'm weak. That's all I am underneath, just weak. I could never win this. What are we even doing here?"

"Nothing is hopeless, Shiori! Haven't you learned that?" Juri said, even as she locked blades with Shiori, leaning hard over her, staring intensely into her eyes over their crossed swords. "You're the one who told me to believe in miracles."

Shiori grit her teeth and pushed with all her might to send Juri stumbling backwards. "That got neither of us anything but heartbreak!" she cried, as she slashed wildly. To her surprise, Juri barely managed to parry her blade, and at a poor angle that sent her stumbling again. "Don't tell me to believe in miracles that I could burn as bright as you, that I could win a duel. Don't tell me you still believe.

Juri stopped and stood up striaght, her sword limp at her side. "I don't believe in miracles."

"You see?"

"Because I don't have to believe in miracles any more."

Shiori ground her teeth. "Because you're talented and perfect. I get it."

"No, you never got it!" Juri stepped forward again in a textbook first move that Shiori easily parried. "Being talented and perfect never made me happy. I don't need miracles because I believe in choosing things that bring you joy, and choosing people who treat you well, and that is the path that brings you love."

"I wish I could believe that."

Juri let out an exasperated groan and said "You can," even as she almost struck through Shiori's defence to slice at her flower. Shiori backed away quickly, panting, and checked her flower as if she couldn't believe it was still there.

"Yeah, right."

"You can," Juri said, more seriously, and lowered her sword again. "I know you can, because when I look at you fence I see how much power there is in being vulnerable, to be bad at something so you can get better. All I ever did was try to be strong, and it made me hollow. I look at you and I see the value in being weak so that you can become strong. Really, truly strong."

"You were never weak!"

"I was terribly weak. You said to believe in miracles so they could know my feelings, but I didn't know my feelings. I could barely admit that I had feelings. Don't you see that I was always, always afraid?"

One, two, three strikes in quick succession that pressed Shiori back, stumbling again. She was getting tired, desperate for a chance to catch her breath, but luckily Juri seemed to need the same thing, because she stopped pressing Shiori back. She just crouched, panting, as if she were about to strike but was still gathering herself together. And then she said, "I don't need miracles because I'm not afraid to be in love with you any more."

Shiori's heart leaps, but her eyes only see Juri's weak spot, the vulnerability in her posture, the path to the daffodil that covered her heart. Shiori's body is tired, but as soon as she sees the opening she's already coiling to strike. As fast as she'd ever moved in her life, Shiori lunged, a desperate, ruthless fight to win.

She the point of her blade connect, the blade bend under the pressure, and she couldn't believe it. But there was no release, no follow through as she cut through the flower. She blinked through the haze of adrenaline to see the shock on Juri's face, and the single line of blood trickling down the hand she'd brought up to protect her flower, from the point where Shiori's sword was still stuck in her skin.

Shiori gasped. She almost wanted to cry. She should withdraw her sword, do something about Juri's wound, but she couldn't move except to draw it back slightly. Then she took a step back, straightened her arm, so her sword was still pointing squarely at Juri's heart.

"Not afraid of vulnerability, huh?" she said, bitterly. "Even when I beat you with skill, I still lose."

Juri took a deep breath. Then she swallowed. "Vulnerability is never easy."

"Neither is duelling. Neither is working hard every day thinking you'll never be good enough."

"You are good enough. i'm the one who has to learn to be weak, so I can be strong." She looked at the blood running down her wrist and took a deep breath. "To remember I don't have to be afraid, because I'm strong enough to survive being in love with you, even if you still don't love me back."

That was when she dropped her hand. A moment later she dropped her sword, too, letting it clatter to the ground. There was nothing but a flower that could come between the tip of Shiori's sword and Juri's heart.

"I don't understand," Shiori said, warily. Her sword hand shook for a moment, although she never its point waver from its target.

"This is checkmate. You won." Juri smiled. "You're right, you beat me fair and square. All you have to do is take your prize."

She thought, _I beat Juri, I beat Juri,_ and _I almost beat Juri,_ and _She's letting me win_ and _Take the prize._ And _She still loves me._

The victory was hers, if she could just step forward and take it. Could she take it?

She shifted her stance, stepping closer, and also shifted her blade so that the point tapped at Juri's chin.

"This is your vulnerability. This is being weak, so you can be strong."

"You know it is," Juri whispered. "You know how I feel."

"And the prize is mine to take. But what do I get, now, if I strike the flower from your breast?"

"You win the duel."

"I've already won," Shiori said. "I want more."

She lowered her sword, the point dangling towards the ground. With her free hand, she took Juri's wrist, the one smeared with a trickle of her own blood, and brought it to her own breast, to cover Shiori's still untouched flower.

"Checkmate," she said, with a smile. "Now what are you going to do?"

Juri was staring at her in shock. Shiori could feel the slight tremble in her hand where Shiori held her. And then suddenly, as though she were afraid she was going to lose the chance, Juri clenched her fingers around Shiori's daffodil, brought her other hand to the back of Shiori's head and kissed her, desperately.

Shiori herself was swept away. She pressed herself against Juri's taller body like she'd always wanted to, and Juri pulled her in, her arms wrapped all the way around her, holding her fast. Shiori found her hands coming up to Juri's chest, just next to the daffodil in her pocket, and Shiori gently, carefully, closed her hand around it. It was hers to protect or destroy as she chose - and this time she would protect, holding the flower as gently as Juri was holding hers.


End file.
